Master's Call
by Moon Faery
Summary: Include the riders of the appocolypse, shinigami, and a pretty horsie! Discontinued.


Master's Call  
Rated R for mature themes  
by Moon Faery  
crystalmilleniu@bolt.com  
http://www.faerysgarden.asiansquare.com  
ANs and Disclaimer: Short, nearly plotless. I just HAD to use this idea,   
though. It's just weird, just so you know. I suggest you read this under the   
heavy influence of chocolate or a LOT of sugar. I don't own Gundam Wing.  
  
  
"She's coming for you. WE'RE coming for you, milord. Run, Milord,   
before we catch you."  
  
Duo sat up in bed, drenched in sweat. He could still see it, staring at   
him with big white eyes, without pupils, but no more blind than he. The   
vision stared him down, chuckling in his ears before it faded into a memory,   
harmless and ephemeral. That didn't stop Duo from laying awake all night,   
staring at the ceiling. He only saw those white eyes, and the cascade of   
black hair like a mane; or like the night sky. The rising sun was a welcome   
distraction.  
  
  
"Duo-kun, are you okay?" Quatre asked, looking up from his morning cup   
of tea. His white school shirt crinkled with starch, for all that they had   
graduated months ago. Quatre said that it 'reminded him of old times' when he   
wore it. They all assumed it was times like when they has stink-bombed the   
cafeteria, rather than when they had had to blow up the school. None of them   
really wanted to remember that. "Didn't you sleep at all?"  
  
Duo fell into a chair, hands clutching a cup of heavily sugared coffee   
as though it was a lifeline. "Damned straight, I didn't get any sleep," he   
muttered, wiping some sleep from his eyes. "Damned nightmares again."  
  
"You should eat less sweets before bed," Trowa said from where he was   
sitting cross-legged on the counter. "You'll sleep better." Duo just shrugged   
and swigged down some coffee. Everyone kept silent, well aware of how grumpy   
Duo was after a night without sleep.  
  
Finally, Duo woke up enough to notice something missing. "Hey, where's   
Heero and Wufei?"  
  
Quatre eyed him warily, as if Duo would bite if he answered wrongly.   
"Mission, somebody's trying to provoke riots in Brazil; Miss Po sent them to   
try and head trouble off at the pass." Trowa nodded his silent agreement of   
the blonde's statement.  
  
Duo winced at the cliché. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot," he said, rubbing   
his forehead. "Is anything else happening today that I forgot? Maybe the   
apocalypse?"  
  
Quatre's laugh grated on Duo's early-morning nerves, but he pushed down   
the urge to produce a thermal scythe and tear through the cheerful blonde. It   
was just too early to be homicidal.  
  
"If that's the case, I'll be outside. Call me if someone needs   
killing." He stood and exited before anyone could stop him, slipping out the   
door like a shred of shadow, there and then not.  
  
Quatre frowned and opened his mouth, but Trowa shook his head. The   
blonde Arab sighed and poured himself some more tea.  
  
In the back of the kitchen, pale blue eyes watched Duo's exit. Rosy red   
lips twitched with amusement as it drifted out the door, following.  
  
"So, the fool awakens, once more to dance his merry tune." It's   
laughter blew through the house like a cold breeze. One passing Maganac   
shivered and searched for an open window.  
  
  
Duo sighed, looking up at the passing clouds. The grass was still wet   
with dew, but he didn't really mind. After years of killing, just to wake up   
the next day and kill some more, a bit of dampness couldn't really bother   
him. One of the clouds formed a scythe, bringing a sickly grin to the young   
boy's face. "Shinigami..."  
  
A dark cloud passed over the sun, darkening what had once been a bright   
day. A chill wind began out no where, bringing the scents of freshly turned   
earth, and old blood. Wailing carried to his ears, a mother's cries for her   
lost infant. Without really knowing what he was about, Duo's hand reached for   
something at his side. Subconsciously, he expected it to fall upon a   
delicately carved handle, with a blade of the thinnest obsidian curved into a   
crescent.  
  
"The wolf remembers his teeth?" a voice asked, echoing hollowly as no   
human voice could do alone. It was impossible to tell whether it was male or   
female from sound alone. "Or simply reaches for the gun which has taken their   
place?"  
  
Duo sat up, amethyst eyes widening as he realized that he hadn't heard   
the person come up. He flipped over onto his knees, ready to run for it under   
the slightest provocation. His eyes focused on what he expected to be the   
feet of his attacker. What he saw were hooves. Eight of them, to be precise.   
One set of them, white and glimmering with an opalescent fire. The other set   
were black as the Devil's heart, and seemed to suck in the light rather than   
reflect it. Duo's eyes traveled up clean legs to the rider.  
  
The person who had spoken was robed and hooded in a rusty colored   
cloak, resembling old blood. Merry blue eyes sparkled within the shadows of   
it's hood, pupil-less and cold, but that was all Duo could see. Its mare was   
a magnificent blood-bay, coat agleam like a fiery torch. She pranced   
spiritedly, tossing her mane of ebony to the wind, tail falling to the grass   
like silk from a lady's finest gown. The fact that her hooves left no   
imprints in the grass barely tickled Duo's mind; what he noticed most were   
the eyes. They were the palest color of the sky, near white. And they glowed,   
seeming to dance with energy and death. Lightning flashed within them,   
turning the blue sky to bloody wine for the briefest of seconds. If ever a   
horse could be called evil, this filly was it. She practically glowed with a   
hunger for destruction.  
  
"Recognize him, Shinigami-kun?" the voice cooed dangerously, tossing   
the reins of the second horse at him. "Surely you remember your mount of   
millennia, Kokya no Hoshi[1]?"  
  
Duo caught the reins without a thought, eye staring at the beast of his   
dreams and nightmares. The stallion's eyes glowed white, the color of a full   
moon. They were as blind as Duo's own, though they bore the coloring of fresh   
milk. His night black coat was marked only by a silvery sickle on his   
forehead, resting between those two eyes. Kokya's impossibly long mane and   
tail were waterfalls of color, as though he someone caught the light of the   
night sky and trapped them within the delicate strands. Duo was no judge of   
horses, but somehow he knew that he'd never see a horse this magnificent in   
his life time. Stepping forward, he rubbed the sickle on Kokya's forehead.   
The stallion breathed a warm, hay scented breath on his cheek apologetically,   
resting his velvety nose against Duo's neck.  
  
*I'm sorry, Master, I tried to warn you.*  
  
Duo yelped and jumped back from the horse as though it had bitten him.   
The stallion looked back at him head cocked to the side, as if he wondered   
why Duo was upset that he had spoken.  
  
The robed figure laughed drily, as though it had long ago forgotten   
what a real laugh sounded like. "You don't remember him, do you, Shinigami-  
kun? Not Kokya, not me, not the others, ne? This is a pleasant surprise; it   
will be so much fun to reeducate you." Thin, pale fingers reached up and   
snapped. The sound ripped through the silence like a bullet.  
  
Kokya looked up from where he'd been staring at Duo, wide eyes never   
blinking. He shook his delicate head and stepped back, laying his ears flat.  
  
*Like Hell I'm coming with you again, Bitch!*  
  
Duo couldn't help it, he laughed. If this horse was anyone's, it was   
his; no doubt of that. Even in a dream, nightmare or delusion, only he'd be   
associated with something like a horse that cursed a blue streak.  
  
The person paused, obviously surprised. He got the feeling that it   
usually didn't get a shock, much less an outright refusal to follow orders.   
And from a HORSE, no less!  
  
"Get over here, NOW," it finally grated out, snapping again. Kokya just   
bared his teeth, eyes hard as steel. It lashed out, bloody lightning flying   
from it's hand to wrap around Kokya's neck. "I said NOW, Beast!"  
  
Kokya reared, screaming in pain and throwing his head back. The lasso   
of energy only tightened. Duo could see it sizzling against the jet coat.   
Without a thought, he dived at the person and wrapped his hands around its   
neck and knocking it off its mare, who's name came to Duo unbidden.   
Higennoshi[2], the Fiery Field of Death. Kokya pulled back, breaking his   
bonds in time to charge Higennoshi, who was turning on Duo, who dared attack   
her rider. Soon, the two great steeds were locked in battle, each straining   
mightily. Had Duo been watching, he would have seen that neither horses' feet   
touched the ground for more than a moment, and black and red shadows danced   
around them, in manes and eyes. His attention was riveted by the creature he   
was pinning to the ground.  
  
Her hood had fallen back, revealing creamy skin and delicate features.   
Soft hair the color of honeyed sunlight spread beneath her like a sheet of   
satin, drawn back at the sides by two braids. Relena smirked up at him,   
utterly different from the face she usually presented the world. What would   
they all say to find that their 'Angel of Peace' was a Demon in the truest   
sense of the word?   
  
"What? Didn't expect to find out that I'm War?" she taunted, pushing   
him off and sitting up with a stretch.  
  
Something clicked in Duo's mind. His mouth moved without his consent,   
as though someone else were speaking through him. For some reason, e wasn't   
frightened. It felt familiar, like an old blanket wrapping him up. It soothed   
him, flowing through his being like a stream of warm, pure water. His eyes   
flashed as white as Kokya's, the shadowy steed who bore Death on his back.   
"Begone, Child. You are before your time; your reign upon the land is over."   
His voice was coolly amused and distant, as though he were an adult watching   
a little one reaching for a cookie jar far beyond her reach.  
  
Relena's mouth twisted into a strange parody of her usual sunny smile.   
"You have no authority over me, Shinigami-kun," she boasted, eyes flickering   
with darkness. Duo could taste her fear, for all the brave front she put up.   
The other half of him that was speaking reveled in it, knowing it as a sign   
of his approaching victory in this little game they were playing.  
  
He laughed, feeling a bubbling energy race through him. "I have every   
power, Child? Or have you forgotten your Creator so soon?" The horses paused   
in their miniature war, flanks heaving as their watched their masters.  
  
War hissed at him, eyes flickering as red as Higennoshi's coat. "I am   
NOT some slave to your whim," she growled, scowling.   
  
Shinigami eyed her contemplatively, white eyes rolling with colors   
beyond human imagination. "No, you are not a slave to me," he reluctantly   
conceded. "But you are meaningless without me; War has no point without   
Death. Pestilence and Famine have learned this lesson; why do you still   
resist?"  
  
*She claims that you wish to destroy us all, my Lord,* Kokya reported,   
pawing the ground.   
  
"Silence you!" War spat at the horse, before Shinigami's hand on her   
shoulder stopped her.  
  
"Is this true?"  
  
She tried to pull away, but his grip pressed tendon and muscles to the   
bone. She gasped, tears springing to her eyes. "YES!" War finally ground out.   
"You wish to kill us all; destroy our purpose, make THEM our equals!"  
  
Shinigami raised an eyebrow, a wry smile crossing his lips. "You fear   
being someone's equal, what will happen if I eliminate the need for us on   
this plain?" War shook her head sharply, denying being afraid of anything.   
Shinigami simply frowned and Duo tasted the air, passing the taste of her   
total terror along. Shinigami removed his hand an sat back on his heels,   
eyeing War as she scrambled backwards unceremoniously.  
  
"What did you come for?" he finally asked, stroking his chin.   
"Certainly not to tell me of my madness."  
  
War shook her head again, the pain of what was certainly a fractured   
bone showing around her eyes. "I came to tell you that we're Riding."  
  
The knowledge of what she meant hit Duo like a load of bricks on his   
head, making him reel back. Shinigami gave way, letting Duo have control. Duo   
exploded back into his body, every nerve throbbing. The loss of that other   
part of him ached, like it had taken something with it.  
  
Relena looked at him, lips pursed. "You have no choice but to rise with   
us, my LORD," she purred triumphantly. "Unless you wish to be here while all   
you know in this life dies at the hands of your own Children."  
  
Duo blinked his violet eyes, snatching at the knowledge and experiences   
he had just regain. "You're wrong, Relena."  
  
She laughed. "Don't you wish it so, Shinigami-kun?"  
  
Duo shook his head sadly. "You are wrong; no one dies without my hand   
being in the matter, have you forgotten your earliest lessons? Have you not   
LISTENED? The three of you..." He waved a hand to indicate the other Riders.   
"Are nothing without me. Simply..." He spread a hand, watching as a tendril   
of wind curled around his wrist like a kitten. "Dust on the wind, and of   
passing fancy. You grow outdated quickly, as mankind defeats you at every   
turn." His eyes flashed their own power rolling through them in white waves.   
  
"Soon, they will have hunger cured; disease will be a dim memory. War   
has already died, even as you fought to let it thrive, it found too little   
fertile soil and your own effort inadvertently killed it. Only I still hold   
sway, and that will change as they evolve." His eyes stared off into a future   
that he could see as clearly as his own grass stained jeans. "And I will not   
stay for much longer." He glanced at Relena, who had gone ashen in the wake   
of these truths. "Did I not warn you that this day would come? Only I can end   
it all, you are simply my hands. And even hands can do no good if not   
attached properly."  
  
Relena glared at him, and lightning flashed in the sky. "I will not be   
reduced to the level of a petty mortal!" she shrieked, manicured nails   
drawing blood as she clenched them into fists.  
  
Duo sighed once more. "It is the way of things, Daughter. Now go. Go   
find your own Angel and live. Mine returns soon." The thought of his Angel of   
Death, Heero, made Duo's lips quirk up once more.  
  
Then lightning flashed again, and a horse screamed it's war cry. Duo   
didn't even feel his head hit the turf as he blacked out.  
  
  
The birds chirping woke Duo from his daze. He stretched, relishing the   
first but of nightmare-less sleep he'd been able to get in weeks. The dream   
he had just had came to mind. "Damn it, what a screwed dream," he muttered,   
sitting up...  
To come nose to nose with a horse of the purest black. A crescent   
adorned it's forehead as the stallion blew a warm waft of air into his face.   
*You called, My Lord?* he asked, now-purple eyes shining mischievously.  
***********************************************************************  
[1] Star of Black Roses, or Black Rose of the Stars.  
[2] Just what it says, Fiery Field of Death 


End file.
